issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

Skaperen · 2019-07-02 20:03:41

i ended up doing a re-install and chose to move forward by going with Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic). there was a lot of work getting all my packages installed (still have a few to do with python pip) and usernames/uids set up. that's all done now, after i discovered that -U doesn't work as documented for the useradd command.

anyway, i have a few issues:

1. i tried to set up focus-follow-mouse which my notes say is at Whisker >> Setttngs >> Window Manager >> tab:Focus >> section:Focus model but section:Focus model is not there. i looked around but could not find it.

2. i tried to set the screensaver timeout which my notes say is at Whisker >> Setttngs >> Screensaver >> section:Blank After but Screensaver is not in the Settings list.

3. i tried to do command "dm-tool switch-to-user <username>" from a non-root user intending to switch to another user but got the error message "Not running inside a display manager, XDG_SEAT_PATH not defined". lightdm seems to be running:

root       948  0.0  0.0 290588  7012 ?        Ssl  Jul01   0:00 /usr/sbin/lightdm
root      3641  0.0  0.0  22000  1048 pts/1    S+   15:50   0:00 grep -F lightdm
root      6304  0.4  0.5 502780 94812 tty7     Ssl+ 02:18   3:33 /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch
root      9829  0.0  0.0 250548  7328 ?        Sl   02:18   0:00 lightdm --session-child 12 21

but the only XDG variable i see is:

XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop

anyone around here know what to do about these issues? my notes were from when i was setting up Xfce on my 16.04 system back in January/February a few months ago.

Last edited by Skaperen (2019-07-02 20:05:28)

ToZ · 2019-07-02 21:55:36

Skaperen wrote:

1. i tried to set up focus-follow-mouse which my notes say is at Whisker >> Setttngs >> Window Manager >> tab:Focus >> section:Focus model but section:Focus model is not there. i looked around but could not find it.

It's actually under "Window Manager Tweaks".

2. i tried to set the screensaver timeout which my notes say is at Whisker >> Setttngs >> Screensaver >> section:Blank After but Screensaver is not in the Settings list.

Light-locker is integrated into the power-manager settings in the Security tab. Click the battery icon in the panel, then "Power Manager Settings" or Settings >> Power Manager.

3. i tried to do command "dm-tool switch-to-user <username>" from a non-root user intending to switch to another user but got the error message "Not running inside a display manager, XDG_SEAT_PATH not defined". lightdm seems to be running:
root       948  0.0  0.0 290588  7012 ?        Ssl  Jul01   0:00 /usr/sbin/lightdm
root      3641  0.0  0.0  22000  1048 pts/1    S+   15:50   0:00 grep -F lightdm
root      6304  0.4  0.5 502780 94812 tty7     Ssl+ 02:18   3:33 /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch
root      9829  0.0  0.0 250548  7328 ?        Sl   02:18   0:00 lightdm --session-child 12 21
but the only XDG variable i see is:
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop

Something not right here. Are you running it in a terminal window that is not su'd to root? Under your user profile?

Skaperen · 2019-07-02 23:14:34

1. it looks like i was looking in Window Manager Tweaks, but it is in Window Manager. "Tweaks" got shoved off the side in the Settings list due to the large font i changed to (Noto Sans 16). i widened the window and i can see what it says, now.

2. this is different. i don't see any screensaver settings. what do i need to set here?

3. it is under the user "Admini" that i set up in the installer with autologin, exactly the same way as i did in Ubuntu 16.04 (because when i tried to use "Admin" then, it said it was a reserved user). the person name is "Admini" but the whoami name is "admini". it is not root but i can do "sudo -i" to get a root shell.

admini@lt2a:~$ fgrep $(whoami) /etc/passwd
admini:x:1000:1000:Admini,,,:/home/admini:/bin/bash
admini@lt2a:~$

ToZ · 2019-07-03 00:14:27

Skaperen wrote:

2. this is different. i don't see any screensaver settings. what do i need to set here?

Light-locker is a very simplistic screen locker. It only has a few settings to set - what you see there. If you want to use another screensaver, you'll have to install one (xscreensaver, gnome-screensaver, etc). Xfce also has a screensaver now - xfce4-screensaver, but I don't think it's available in the 18.04 repositories - only since 19.04. It's a fork of the gnome-screensaver.

3. it is under the user "Admini" that i set up in the installer with autologin, exactly the same way as i did in Ubuntu 16.04 (because when i tried to use "Admin" then, it said it was a reserved user). the person name is "Admini" but the whoami name is "admini". it is not root but i can do "sudo -i" to get a root shell.
admini@lt2a:~$ fgrep $(whoami) /etc/passwd
admini:x:1000:1000:Admini,,,:/home/admini:/bin/bash
admini@lt2a:~$ 

It needs to be run as the account that you logged in with. Did you log in with Admini?

What does the following return:

env | grep XDG

Skaperen · 2019-07-03 03:01:23

i selected for it to be automatically logged in on the installer pager where its name and password were set up. it does automatically login every time i boot up.

Skaperen · 2019-07-03 03:08:45

i just tried a reboot (it comes back up and automatically logs in admini) then a logout. i get the greeter and logged back in as admini, again. i will do this again and login as a different user.

Skaperen · 2019-07-03 04:28:29

i just tried this: i change which user is to be autologged in in the file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf from:

[Seat:*]
autologin-guest=false
autologin-user=admini
autologin-user-timeout=0

i run "sed -i s/admini/forums/ /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf" to get:

[Seat:*]
autologin-guest=false
autologin-user=forums
autologin-user-timeout=0

then i reboot. the system comes up but user "forums" fails to log in, i get the greeter, and log in to admini. so something is not letting all the users login except admini.

also, "su -l" lets me start a login shell for many of these users, so it is not from lackof a /etc/passwd entry or lack of a home directory or incorrect home directory ownership. /var/logs/auth.log and /var/logs/syslog is not very helpful ... full of messages i don't understand or indicate a good login happening. right now, admini is the only user that can login by lightdm. there must be some big mis configuration of lightdm ... allows only one specific user and does not set an environment variable that dm-tool needs.

Last edited by Skaperen (2019-07-03 04:28:58)

Skaperen · 2019-07-03 05:16:54

i was trying to login to some other users that had never logged in before. the purpose is to have names in the log files that have not been in the log files since running useradd for them. but it let them login OK (so i did some setup on them while there). it seems that the ones it allows are ones that have never been logged in with "su -l" by root. those that have been logged in my "su -l" first are not allowed to login graphically. that sure seems to be useless logic. i'll pick some more and see if i can discern this. i also need to try "dm-tool switch-to-user" on them.

Skaperen · 2019-07-03 06:02:23

no, it's not on the basis of having logged them on with "su -l" before. it is whether useradd populated their home directory or not.

i did not have all the home directories present when i created all the users. so, i let useradd just create them knowing i could clean it up later. their hoe directories are in /home2. and admini was freshly installed.

to test this i picked a user that could not login and renamed its home directory. i copied everything from a user that could login and changed the ownership. now that user can login. so it's some file. i don't know which one, yet, but i have an idea how to find out.

Last edited by Skaperen (2019-07-03 06:03:24)

Skaperen · 2019-07-03 06:46:41

the file causing the problem is .ICEauthority having read-only permissions, which was not an issue in 16.04. now i can log in every user.

the problem with "dm-tool switch-to-user <username>" was that i was logged in as a non-root user through root. that is i had done "sudo -i" then "su -l <username>". most of the XDG environment variables were unset by sudo.

now i think i can finish the transition. users with Xfce setting, preference, or config files seem to be compatible and working. next is to tr out my automated setup scripts (that mount the remaining homes, setup IPv6 over a VPN, log in all the users in the right order and timing, and start their various windows.

now i'll be using a clean, pure, Xubuntu, with a newer version of Python.

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#1 2019-07-02 20:03:41

issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#2 2019-07-02 21:55:36

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#3 2019-07-02 23:14:34

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#4 2019-07-03 00:14:27

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#5 2019-07-03 03:01:23

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#6 2019-07-03 03:08:45

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#7 2019-07-03 04:28:29

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#8 2019-07-03 05:16:54

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#9 2019-07-03 06:02:23

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

#10 2019-07-03 06:46:41

Re: issues with a fresh install of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic)

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